What you need to know

Ever since Justin Baldoni announced in 2019 that he was adapting the best-selling book It Could Be With Us into a film, there was widespread uproar.

There are few books in recent years that have become as big a culture as Colleen Hoover’s book – it has sold 20m copies and became an online sensation on TikTok with over a billion tags on the app.

When Blake Lively, who became famous in the 2000s playing Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl, was cast as the main character, fans were very happy, describing her as the best choice to play Lily Bloom, a girl who grew up. witnessing domestic violence and ending up in the same place years later.

Lily, a gardener in Boston, navigates a love triangle between her beautiful but abusive boyfriend Ryle Kincaid – played by Jane the Virgin’s Justin Baldoni – and her first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar).

Released in early August, the film was a huge success, grossing over $350m (£280m) worldwide.

But despite his good fortune, all was not well in secret. Rumors of a feud between Baldoni and Lively began circulating before the film was even released.

Last week, Lively sued her best friend, accusing him of insulting him and starting a smear campaignsomething Baldoni strongly denies. Here’s the story so far:

For a movie about domestic violence, the press tour for It Ends With Us may not have been what you’d expect. There were pink carpets, flowers galore and a promotion for Lively’s new hair color by her husband’s gin company.

Instead of inspiring on the red carpet, Lively showed fashion and flowers.

At the first London meeting, journalists were told to keep the questions “fun and light” while an event organizer told me to “keep questions about domestic violence separate”.

One of his first speeches in New York – “you are more than just a survivor or a victim” – sparked a debate on social media.

Domestic violence survivor Ashley Paige criticized Ms. Lively’s language and told the BBC that her pain “made me who I am”.

Lively has also been criticized for her comments in a controversial video in which she said: “Grab your friends, wear your flowers and go sightseeing.”

Ms. Paige criticized Lively for promoting the film as “the next Barbie”.

Along with a press tour described as “deafening”, people began asking questions about why Lively and Baldoni were not photographed on the red carpet together at the film’s New York premiere on August 6.

The two did not do interviews together during the press tour and at the London premiere, which Baldoni did not attend, I was warned by Lively’s team not to “ask questions about Justin”.

Netizens also noted that members including Lively and writer Hoover did not follow Baldoni on TV.

Neither Lively nor Baldoni addressed the feud rumors during the press conference and the only thing that was said about each other was Baldoni telling Today that her partner was a “smart producer”.

“He had his hands in every aspect of this production, and everything he touched he made [it] good,” he said of the 37-year-old.

Although the film was a success, it received mixed reviews from critics and some said it favored domestic violence.

There was A two-star review from The Telegraph’s Tim Robeywho called it an “uncomfortable drama” that “reinterprets domestic violence as romance”.

He added that the film “confuses brutality and glitzy big-city romance to devastating effect”.

The video has also sparked controversy on TikTok, with some saying it’s unclear in the trailer that the story is about an abusive relationship and appears to be about love.

Based on this misconception, some people say that they found the film to be painful because they did not know that it contained scenes of domestic violence.

During the film’s press tour, Baldoni hired a crisis manager, Melissa Nathan, whose past clients include Johnny Depp and Drake.

Shortly after the press tour, Lively was criticized on social media for her comments on the tour and past interviews.

One of the questions that was asked to return was shared by the Norwegian journalist, Kjersti Flaa, who posted a video on YouTube about her interview with Lively in 2016. It was called “The interview with Blake Lively that made me want to quit my job.”

Actor Brandon Sklenar, who plays Atlas in the film, defended Lively and said in a post on Instagram that People have been “taunting” the female cast of the film online.

She added that it was “heartbreaking to see the amount of dissociation going on” and that a close friend who had been through a similar relationship to Lily’s said the film had “saved her life”.

Four months after the film’s launch, Lively sued against Mr. Baldoni when he accused him of abusing him.

The complaint also named Wayfarer Studios, Mr Baldoni’s production company that produced It Ends With Us, as a defendant.

The lawsuit accuses Baldoni and Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath of “repeated sexual harassment and other disruptive behavior”. Other female actors and crew also spoke out about their behavior, the post says.

They also say that Ms Lively, Baldoni and other people involved in the development of the film went to a meeting in January to eliminate the “working space” in the preparation. Her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, attended the meeting with her, according to the complaint.

At the meeting, those who attended agreed to a list of demands, including Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath “no longer revealing their genitals”, which required a regular relationship coordinator when Ms Lively was on the show with Baldoni and no “friends” of producers and directors were shown during the show Ms. Lively was naked.

The series of questions also revealed that Baldoni had asked Ms Lively’s trainer how much she weighed and said Baldoni and Heath had spoken about their “promiscuity” to Ms Lively.

In the letter, Lively claims that Baldoni and his group attacked her in public after the meeting.

They accuse him of plotting to “destroy” his reputation in the press and online, including hiring a crisis manager who led a “professional, coordinated, well-financed retaliation program” against him and using a “digital army” to deploy it. social media stories that appear to be true.

“To protect against the threat of Ms Lively revealing the truth about Baldoni, the Baldoni-Wayfarer team created, planted, developed, and expanded content designed to ensure Ms Lively’s integrity,” her team wrote in a statement.

It adds: “They took the same steps to encourage Baldoni to believe and not to destroy anything negative about them.”

In the post, Lively says it caused “huge negative effects” that affected “every aspect” of her life.

Mr Baldoni’s legal team told the BBC the claims were “absolutely false” and said they had hired a crisis manager because Ms Lively had threatened to disrupt the film unless she got her way.

In response to the legal complaint, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said on Saturday: “It is disgraceful that Lively and her representatives would make false statements about Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and her representatives.”

Mr Freedman accused Ms Lively of making numerous threats, including “threats not to appear, threats not to promote the film”, which could “cause her to lose money on release, if her demands don’t happen”.

Hollywood stars including America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel are in attendance he publicly supported Blake Lively after she filed her complaint.

Ferrera, Tamblyn and Bledel, who starred with Lively in the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, commented on Instagram on Sunday that they “stand with her in solidarity”.

“Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we watched her bravely ask for a safe place for herself and her co-workers to settle down, and we were shocked to read the evidence of the premeditated and retaliatory actions taken to undermine her voice,” they wrote.

Colleen Hoover, author of It Ends With Us, also expressed her support, describing Ms Lively as “honest, kind, supportive and patient”.

Additional reporting by Grace Dean.